There's More to You Than What You're Showing
by kml8990
Summary: There's more to Puck than the person he wants everyone to believe he is and Kurt's determine to figure out just what that is. SLASH, Eventual Puck/Kurt
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **There's More to You Than What You're Showing  
**Characters: **The entire glee club, Mr. Shuester, Burt Hummel, Carol, Sarah Puckerman  
**Pairing: **Eventual Puck/Kurt  
**Genre: **Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, AU  
**Warnings: **un-betaed, slash, AU  
**Rating: **NC-17 eventually  
**Discalimer: **I do not own glee or any of it's characters nor do I own anything else you may recognize

**Summary: **There's more to Puck than the person he wants everyone to believe he is, and Kurt's going to find out just what that is.

**A/N: **Just be warned, this is my first multichaptered glee fic, so be easy on me.

**Chapter 1**

6 am always came too early for Puck's liking. He grumbled as he rolled over and swatted at his alarm clock until he was able to shut the annoying object off. With a sigh, he pulled himself from the warm confines of his bed to start his day.

After pulling on a pair of jeans and a form fitting t-shirt, Puck trailed down the narrow hall of the 2 bedroom apartment until he reached his sister's room. Pushing the door open, Puck stepped inside and was standing next to the bed in three quick strides. He moved a toy horse out of the way before kneeling down next to the bed, reaching out to gently push her bangs back from her forehead he softly called out to her.

"Hey Squirt, it's time to get up." He cooed gently

The little girl stirred slightly, her brown eyes fluttering open to stare up at her brother. Puck smiled down at her as he pulled her blankets back to keep her from pulling them over her head and snuggling back down for some more sleep.

"It's morning, Squirt." He told her with a smile, "Time to get up and get dressed. Do you want a bagel or cereal for breakfast?" he asked as he stood back up.

The little girl tiredly rubbed her eyes with her small fists as she thought about the choices. "Can I have a warm bagel?" she asked innocently, looking up at Puck.

"You mean Toasted?" he clarified and she nodded. "Sure. You want butter on it? Or cream cheese?"

"Butter please." She requested, pushing herself into a sitting position and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Alright. Get dressed, and dress warm. It's going to be cold outside." He advised before leaving the room and heading for the kitchen.

***The people who smile the most are usually hurting the worst***

"Noah? Why do we have school?" An small, innocent voice asked from the passenger's seat of Puck's truck as they drove towards the elementary school.

"Because we need to learn stuff." Puck stated, looking over at his sister before turning his gaze back to the road.

"Why can't you teach me stuff?" The six year old questioned, staring over at her big brother.

"Because I'm not good at learning, so I'll be horrible at teaching." Puck reasoned.

"Well I hate school!" The girl informed him with a furrowed brow and arms crossed over her chest.

"Why? Someone picking on you?" Puck inquired, trying to stay calm at the thought of some other shrimpy kid picking on his baby sister.

"No. It's just boring! And the other kids are stupid."

Puck sighed as he pulled up in front of his sister's school. Throwing the truck into Park and turning to face the little girl, Puck reached out and cupper her chin, tilting her face up until she was looking at him.

"Sarah, you're only in first grade. Try to have fun. You'll have plenty of time to hate it later." He told her, smiling softly and twirling one of her lose curls around his finger. "I have to work after school, so the Superplay van will be here after school to pick you up. You'll eat dinner there, and I'll pick you up at 7:30, okay?"

"Okay Noah." Sarah agreed with a nod.

"Alright, I'll see you later Squirt. Have fun!" he told her and she rolled her eyes. "I love you." He added quickly.

"I love you too Noah." The girl replied with a smile before exiting the vehicle.

***I have to make sure my mask is firmly in place before I leave me house every morning***

Puck waited for her to get in the front door of the large brick school building before driving towards McKinley High.

The moment the front two wheels of his car hit the asphalt of William McKinley High School, a transformation took place. He was no longer Noah, Sarah's loving and adoring big brother who could make every scraped knee better. Instead, he was Puck, the jerk of a football player who threw nerds into dumpsters and fooled around with Santana Lopez in the janitor's closet between classes.

At least that's what he used to do. Since joining glee club, he hadn't thrown anyone into dumpsters or given anyone a slushie facial. He hadn't even seen the inside of the janitors closed for months. You're mother running off to go to "rehab" in a different state leaving you to care for you sister had a sobering effect. It definitely made Puck grow up awfully fast. While he was glad his mother was finally getting some help after ten years of drinking herself under the table, she should've given him some sort of heads up instead of a note taped to the fridge one morning.

Though he hadn't been particularly mean to anyone for a while now, the nerds still parted like the red sea, letting him pass by the moment he stepped through the front doors. As he rounded the corner into the hall that led to his first period class, he heard the familiar sound of shaved ice and artificial flavor splashing onto the tiled floor of the school. He looked over his shoulder to find Karofsky and Azimio slapping hands and laughing at a now very orange looking Artie. With a sigh, Puck backtracked a little too where his locker was. Opening the metal closet, Puck picked up a towel he was sure was fairly clean before heading towards Artie.

"Be glad it's not cherry. You'd look like a tomato for the rest of the day." He said as he handed the towel to the other teen.

Artie looked up at Puck in surprise. "Thank you."

Puck merely nodded before continuing on down the hall to his original destination. Sliding into his desk at the back of the room, Puck settled down to ready himself for another day of the hell he called life.

**A/N: **That was the first chapter. I have a few already written, so please let me know if this is something you would be interested in me continuing, or if it's stupid and I should just scrap it. ~Katy


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thank you all to those who added this story to your favorites or alerts list. And a big thank you to those who reviewed. I appreciate it a lot. I'm still new to all of this! Anyway, here's chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

7:00 couldn't come fast enough for Puck's liking. He didn't mind his job for the most part. Stocking the shelves of Kroger's grocery store wasn't exactly hard work, and besides, he got an employee discount on all of his groceries. Making money and saving money in the same place, it couldn't work out much better. However, there were just some nights when the many customers seemed hell-bent on making his life just a tad bit harder.

First it was the airhead of a mother who let her toddler take off running down the aisle, straight into the freshly stacked display of chicken soup. If it hadn't been for Puck's fast reflexes, the little hellion would have been flattened. After restacking the entire display, he had to head over to aisle six to clean up after some butter fingered shopped dropped a glass jar of pickles. Things had progressively gotten worse from there.

Puck was in the staff locker room ad 6:59 sharp. As soon as the clock his 7:00, he was punching out and pilling his apron over his head, not bothering to change out of his work clothes as he gathered his things and headed to his car. Sliding into the driver's seat, Puck took a moment to close his eyes and rest his head back, hoping to draw in some extra energy. After a few moments of sitting there in the peaceful silence, he opened his eyes and started up the car to head to Superplay and pick up Sarah.

***There is no rest for the weary* **

The Superplay parking lot was virtually empty when he pulled into it twenty minutes later. He knew he was lucky the woman on the night shift agreed to stay late for him on the days he worked. Superplay closed to everyone except Sarah at 7:00.

Exiting the vehicle, Puck stepped out in the light sprinkling rain and made his way to the front door of the children's care center. He knocked lightly on the glass door, gaining the attention of Doris, the worker, inside. She smiled warmly at him as she made her way to the door, keys in hand to unlock it and let him in.

"Hello Noah." The woman greeted and Puck gave her a tired smile in return.

Doris was a kind looking woman in her early 40's with short graying brown hair and smiling eyes. She had taken an instant liking to Puck and Sarah the moment they had walked through the door and the teen had explained their situation. She had a lot of respect for the boy, not many teens would have taken on the care of their younger sister.

"How was she?" Puck inquired as he stepped inside and searched the room for his sister.

"An Angel as always." Doris smiling brotherly. "The poor thing must have had a busy day at school. After dinner she asked me to put on a movie and lay on the floor and fell right asleep. " The woman told him as she led Puck over to the carpeted area.

The little mermaid was playing on the television mounted on the wall and Sarah laid out on the flood fast asleep, a stuffed polar bear acting as a pillow. Puck couldn't stop the affectionate smile that formed on his face. He knelt down on the ground and gently scooped the 6 year old up into his arms with practiced ease, Sarah not even stirring at the movement. Doris stood next to him, Sarah's pink coat and princess backpack in hand. Puck took the coat and used his free hand to tuck it around Sarah's sleeping form, lifting the hood up so it covered her head. Taking the backpack in his hand, Puck bid Doris a goodnight and carried his sister out to his truck.

Tossing Sarah's backpack to the floor, Puck reached out with his free hand to grab the boosted seat he had stashed under the dashboard before he had pulled into McKinley's parking lot that morning. Settling the childseat securely on the truck's bench seat, Puck carefully placed his sleeping sister on it and belted her in before stepping around the front of the truck to get behind the wheel and drive them home.

******* Children make you want to start life over*******

Once reaching the apartment complex, Puck parked his truck before carrying his sister up to their apartment. Jingling his keys in his hand until he found the right one, Puck stuck the key in the lock and let them in. Dropping both of their bags by the door as well as Sarah's coat, Puck headed directly to the little girl's bedroom. Pulling off the ballet flats from her he gently laid her down onto the bed. Leaving her in her skirt and t-shirt, he pulled the blankets up and over her, tucking them around her securely. Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Puck turned on her flower nightlight before exiting the bedroom pulling the door closed behind him but leaving it opened a crack.

With a tired sigh, Puck made his way back down the hall towards the kitchen, his right hand working the buttons of his work shirt until he was able to pull it off and toss it over the back of the couch in passing. Making himself a cup of coffee, Puck headed back out to the living room, grabbing his backpack and settling down on the couch. Pulling out his homework, he prepared himself for a long night because if he wanted to do right by Sarah, he needed to get better grades.

***I'm going to be somebody someday***

A hacking cough is what pulled Puck from his fitful slumber. The sunlight peeking in through the living room window blinded him the moment he opened his eyes. With a groan, he closed his eyes once again and put his hand over them to block out the light. Slowly, he opened them again, waiting for his eyes to adjust before removing his hand. Glancing at the clock that sat over their small television, Puck saw that it was only 5:30 in the morning. His aching back protested strongly as he stood up from where he had fallen asleep on the couch the night before.

Making a pit stop in the bathroom for Sarah's inhaler, Puck followed the sound of the little girl's uncomfortable cough into her bedroom. Sarah was sitting up in bed, her hand held politely over her mouth as she coughed, her breath coming in wheezing pants. Puck quickly shook the inhaler, before taking a seat beside his sister on the bed and holding it up to her small lips.

"You know the drill." He told her gently and she put her mouth over the inhaler while Puck pressed down, releasing the medication into her lungs.

After repeating the process a second time, he put the inhaled on her bedside table before pulling his sister onto his lap and cuddling her close to his chest while her breathing returned to normal. When her breathing evened out entirely, Puck looked down to find Sarah fast asleep once again, her face pressed up against his chest. He smiled to himself as he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, holding her close as he adjusted himself on the small twin bed dressed in pink sheets with unicorns on them.

He chuckled to himself as he made himself comfortable on Sarah's small bed. If anyone from school saw him now, they'd try to commit him to a mental hospital for sure, but looking down at the small body pressed against his he could honestly say he didn't care. He had always taken his role as an older brother very seriously, but this was so much more than that. All of a sudden he was mother, father and big brother all rolled into one and he found himself questioning whether or not he could do this. He wasn't the best person, nor was he the smartest. He had been a jerk and a bully for so long that he wasn't sure he could be anything else, but looking at the innocent face of his slumbering sister he decided he wanted to try. For her sake, he wanted to try.

**A/N: **So, I know it's a little slow starting, but I promise it'll get better. In the mean time please feel free to leave me any thoughts or suggestions! ~ Katy


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thanks for all the comments and suggestions that you've given me so far. Like I said before, this is my first glee multichaptered fic, and only my second glee fic period so it's all kind of new. But I am glad you all seem to be enjoying it!

**Chapter 3**

Kurt looked up from his notebook when he noticed that the desk next to his, which had been vacant for most of the year, was now occupied. To say he was surprised to find none other than Noah Puckerman sitting there would have been an understatement. Puck hadn't attended a math class since the beginning of Freshman year; but there he was, pre-calculus book open in front of him as he seemingly did the work their teacher had requested. Kurt's head whipped around frantically, looking for Puck's cohorts and thinking it would be really stupid of them to mess with him in front of a teacher. Two things he was sure of, Noah Puckerman does _not _willingly sit next to the "gay kid" and he most certainly does _not_ attend math class.

"No headache today, Mr. Puckerman?" Their teacher, Mr. Ryder, questioned curiously.

Puck didn't look up from his work as he shook his head, "No sir."

Kurt's eyes shot up the moment "sir" escaped from Puck's lips. Since when was Puck polite? From the look on Mr. Ryder's face, he wasn't the only one taken off guard by the manners. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mr. Ryder walked away from his student, clearly baffled. Kurt stared at the teen next to him not quite knowing what to make of the new attitude.

Feeling eyes on him, Puck looked up to find Kurt's questioning gaze fixated on him. "Aren't you going to do the assignment?" the jock asked.

Kurt blinked, not expecting to be directly addressed by the football player, and shook his head. "I don't understand it." He admitted, blushing slightly. "I was just going to wait and google the problems when I got home. There's usually some sort of website that'll give me the answers."

"It's easy." Puck stated with a wave of his hand before leaning closer to Kurt. Kurt flinched, expecting something other than what actually happened. "It's like factoring." The jock went onto explain, oblivious to Kurt's stiff posture. "You have to solve for x." Puck proceeded to write down the correct answer. "There, just do what I did for the rest of the problems." He said, leaning away from Kurt and turning back to his own work.

Kurt stared down at the paper where Puck's messy handwriting now revealed the answer to the first problem. "Okay, explain to me how I have never missed a day of class and I cannot understand this, yet you, who haven't attended a single class all year, do?"

Puck smirked as he quickly wrote his name on his paper right as the bell rang. "There's a reason I don't go to class, and still pass every year Hummel." Puck stated smugly before standing up to hand in his assignment and leave the room, a flabbergasted Kurt staring after him.

***I'm not as dumb as you think I am***

By the end of the school day, most of the students were whispering about Noah Puckerman not only attending all of his classes, but actually doing the work as well. Puck chose to ignore the talk and the stares as he made his way to the choir room for glee rehearsal.

Most of the club was already there and settled in their seats by the time Puck stepped into the room. He passed them by without a word and sat silently in the corner chair on the back riser. Mr. Shuester entered the room not long after Puck and called the class to order.

Now Puck would never willingly admit to enjoying glee club, but the fact that he went week after week attested that fact. And while he really, honestly enjoyed it, he could do without Shue's long lectures. Seriously, just get to the point dude. An hour of mind numbing dance rehearsal and Artie continuously running over his toes, glee club was over and it was onto football practice.

"Dude, you feeing alright?" Finn asked as they made their way down the hall to the locker room.

"Yeah, why?" Puck replied with a shrug.

"Because rumor has it you actually went to _all_ of your classes today."

"So?" Puck questioned gruffly, looking over to glare at his best friend.

Finn reached out and laid a hand on Puck's arm. "Dude, I can count the number of times you sat through a full day of classes on one hand."

"Maybe I had nothing better to do." Puck said, shrugging off Finn's hand and continuing on down the hall.

***I'm trying to change but they won't let me***

The breath was forcibly expelled from his lungs as he was tackled for the tenth time in an hour. Karofsky cackled as he got up off of Pick and ran back towards the center of the field. Puck wasn't sure if he could move after that last one, so he just laid there for a moment as he tried to remember how to make his limbs work. When he didn't get up right away, Coach Beiste, along with the rest of the players that were in glee club, crowded around him in concern.

"Can you move Puckerman?" Beiste inquired as she stared down at her fallen player.

"Yeah." Puck groaned out the moment he was able to recapture air into his lungs. "I think so."

Puck moaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He was positive the world wasn't supposed to tilt like it had. He felt like one giant bruise as Mike and Finn helped him to his feet and he almost teetered over the moment they let go of him.

"Alright Puckerman, you'll be spending the rest of practice on the bench." Beiste ordered, helping him off the field and onto said bench before restarting the play.

His right hand dipped under his jersey to press lightly at his sore ribs, wincing as he sucked in a deep breath. A shadow casted over him, and he looked up to find Kurt standing there, biting his lower lip unsurely.

"What do you want Hummel?" he asked perhaps a little too harshly.

"I was just…I just…never mine, forget it." Kurt huffed, clutching the strap to his satchel a little tighter and turning to leave.

Puck reached out and grabbed hold of Kurt's bag, halting the teen in his tracks. "What did you want?" he asked again, his voice a little nicer than it had been before.

Kurt hesitated for another moment before sighing. "Can you help me with my math homework? For some reason, which I'm still trying to figure out, you're not as dumb as you look and I really need to pass pre-calculus."

"Was that an insult, or a compliment?" Puck asked

Kurt crossed his arms over his chest, "You can take it however you wish. So? Yes or no?"

Puck smirked, "Sure Hummel. I'll help you out. How about tomorrow during lunch?"

"That would work fine." Kurt admitted before narrowing his eyes at the boy in front of him. "But so help me, if this is just a trick so you and your Neanderthal buddies can mess with me, I will make your life hell Puckerman!"

With that, Kurt turned on his heel strutting away, a smirking Puck staring after him.

***Tied together with a smile***

Puck was not prepared for the small body that propelled itself towards him the moment he stepped through the door of Superplay.

"Noah!" Sarah's happy exclamation would have made him smile if his body hadn't been protesting against the collision.

"Hey Squirt." He greeted her through gritted teeth, ruffling her hair lightly. "Go get your things." He instructed and Sarah ran off to do as she was asked.

The whole ride home was filled with a constant stream of chatter courtesy of Sarah. Puck listened patiently, nodding here and there when it was warranted. When they reached their apartment complex, Puck helped her out of the car before ushering her inside.

"Sarah, go take your shower while I make something for dinner." He called after the little girl, who had immediately headed to her bedroom.

"Okay!" She called back happily. One thing Puck was extremely thankful for: Sarah rarely argued or whined.

Stepping into the kitchen, Puck searched through the cabinets for food. Deciding on quesadillas and Spanish rice, he set to work making the food as he heard the water turn on in the bathroom.

15 minutes later found Sarah fully bathed and sitting across from Puck at their small kitchen table, tearing into her quesadilla with gusto. Puck watched her with a smile on his face, but it turned into a frown when Sarah's hacking cough made an appearance again.

"You okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice.

The little head covered it wet curls bobbed up and down as she nodded. "Guess what Noah?" the child asked, her voice full of excitement as she brushed off her brother's question. "Today at recess, Jimmy Edwards, one of the meanest boys in my class, ripped his pants on the slide! Everyone laughed at him and Jimmy started crying."

"First of all, don't talk with your mouth full." Puck admonished, pausing to take a sip of his water. "Secondly, it is not nice to laugh at people or make fun of them."

But No-ah!" Sarah whined, "He's super mean to all of us! And it wasn't my fault his pants ripped!"

"Maybe not, but it's still not okay." He told her, and if this wasn't a pot calling the kettle black moment, he didn't know what was. Sarah scoffed and he reached across the table to place his hand on top of hers, gaining the little girl's attention once again. "Hey, listen to me." He requested gently. "I wasn't the nicest person at school, and I'm still not –"

"You are too!" Sarah protested with wide eyes, unknowingly cutting her brother off.

Puck smiled at her but shook his head, "No, I haven't been. I'm nice at home, but I haven't been that nice to people at school. And let me tell you something Squirt, being a bully doesn't feel good at all. Let me ask you a question, if it had been you who had ripped your pants on the playground, how would people laughing at you make you feel?"

Sarah's downcast eyes studied the pate in front of her. "Bad." She admitted softly.

"Right." Puck agreed. "You wouldn't have felt very good. Now let me ask you something else. Did laughing at Jimmy make you feel good?"

"No." the small voice said. "It made me sad because it made Jimmy cry more."

"So why would you laugh at him if it made him feel bad and you feel bad?"

"Because everyone else was." Sarah explained, her eyes still downcast but her brow furrowed in contemplation.

Puck sighed, "Squirt, look at me." When Sarah's chocolate brown eyes met his own, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't do things just because everyone else does them, okay? Because that makes you a follower and you are so much better than that. You be a leader, Sarah. You show this town that you are better than that, that you are better than Mom, better than Dad and better than Me."

***I'd have changed a lot of things, starting with me***

**A/N: **So, I know Kurt's introduction was brief, but he'll start being in the chapters more and more, so just hang in there please. Now...I wouldn't expect an update for at least a week. I'm a junior in college and we have final exams this coming week and I'll be busy studying for them. Thanks for reading though! Feel free to leave me your thoughts! ~Katy


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Okay, so I'm about to head out for spring break but I wanted to get you guys a chapter. I didn't get much feedback on the last chapter. Only 1 person commented, but from all the story alerts and how many times it was favorited, I'm going to say people like it. Because it was a bit rushed, there may be some mistakes and it may be a bit disjointed, but if you would like to _respectfully_ point out inconsistencies or mistakes, go ahead and I'll do my best to fix them.

**Chapter 4**

The following morning Puck found the path to his locker blocked by none other than Kurt Hummel. Any unsure expressions that had graced the smaller teens face the previous afternoon when asking for Puck's assistance in math, had been by replaced by possibly the best bitch face Puck had ever seen. The jock rolled his eyes in annoyance,

"What is it Hummel?"

Kurt narrowed his eyes at the boy in front of him. "You do know I have a first name, don't you? Or is your brain so small that it doesn't have the capacity to retain that knowledge?"

Puck smirked as he crossed his muscled arms over his chest and stared at the boy in front of him. "That's not a nice way to treat the guy who is your only hope at passing math."

"You're _not _my only hope." Kurt countered immediately. "I hope this doesn't inflate your ego any more because it's already bigger than the entire school."

"If you are through insulting me," Puck stated, boredom seeping into his voice, "Class is going to start in a few minutes, and while it doesn't particularly matter to me if I'm late, I don't feel like witnessing one of your bitch fits when you ruin your perfect attendance record."

"I would appreciate it greatly if you refrained from calling me a bitch, because I am not one." Kurt ordered bitchily, totally contradicting his statement.

Puck sighed, his arms dropping to his sides in exasperation. "Is there a point to you being here?"

Kurt quirked an eyebrow, "Well, since I do attend this school, I figured it was self explanatory."

"Hummel." Puck growled, his patience wearing thin.

"Alright." Kurt relented. "I just came to tell you that if this meeting of ours taking palce at lunch is just a set up so you and the other cretins can catch me off guard, it's not worth the trouble. What you do to me has never, and will never, break me." He stated, his voice firm but the way his arms wrapped around himself gave away the fact that he wasn't as sure of himself as he wanted Puck to believe him to be.

"I'll see you in the library at lunch, Hummel." Was all Puck said as he brushed by the smaller teen and headed to his first class of the day.

***GLEE***

When the bell signaling the start of lunch rang through the halls, Puck weaved his way through his classmates and exited his English classroom, heading towards his locker. Quickly doing the combination, he shoved his unused English book into the depths of the metal closet. He was just reaching for his pre-calculus textbook when he felt and insistent buzzing in his pocket.

Abandoning the textbook for the time being, Puck dug into his pocket to pull out his phone. He frowned when he didn't recognize the number displayed, but he pressed the 'accept' button anyway. Holding the phone up against his ear, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Yes, I'm calling for Noah Puckerman." An unfamiliar voice said through the phone.

Puck frowned. "This is him."

"Mr. Puckerman, my name is Shirley and I'm the school nurse at Lincoln elementary school. I'm calling in regards to Sarah."

"What's wrong with her?" Puck all but demanded an answer from the woman on the other end of the line.

"Well it seems she's been having problems with her asthma all morning. I helped administer her inhaled, but it had little effect. So I suggest consulting a physician."

Puck sighed as he ran a hand over his Mohawk. "Alright. I'll uh…I'll be there in ten minutes."

He bid his goodbye before hanging up and stuffing his phone into his pocket. Grabbing his backpack, he let his locker door swing shut as he headed toward the parking lot where his truck was parked

***GLEE***

Puck parked his truck in front of the school, pausing long enough to set Sarah's booster seat up before exiting the vehicle and hustling up the stairs of the brick building and heading toward the office.

"Can I help you?" the secretary, who was way too energetic for Puck's liking, greeted him the moment he stepped through the doorway.

"Uh, yes. My name is Noah Puckerman. I'm here to pick up Sarah."

"Oh yes! The poor thing, she's been having an awfully hard time today." The woman said, stepping around the counter to lead Puck toward the closed door to the right of them. "She's in here with the nurse." The secretary explained, knocking on the door before pushing it open.

Puck brushed past the secretary and the school nurse without a word as he beelined to the small cot where Sarah was lying down, propped up on some pillows in an attempt to ease her ragged breathing. Puck perched himself on the edge of the cot, reaching forward to brush Sarah's bangs off of her forehead to press a light kiss there.

"Hey Squirt." He greeted softly, "There are easier ways to get out of school."

"Noah," Sarah's voice came out in a raspy whine "It's hard to breathe."

"I know Squirt. We're going to go see a doctor in a few minutes, so just hang in there." He told her, stroking her hair comfortingly.

After signing Sarah out of school, Puck loaded her into his truck and headed towards the closest free clinic that he knew of. Pulling up at the clinic, Puck rifled through his glove box looking for the paperwork his mom had left him, legal documentation giving him guardianship of his sister. He wasn't sure if he should be angry or grateful for the fact that his mother had left him legal documentation giving him power of attorney over his sister. It only proved that she had been planning her departure for a while and she still hadn't said a word to him or allowed him to prepare for it. But right now, in this moment, he was just grateful for it. Rolling the papers up and stuffing them into his back pocket, he got out of the truck and ran around to the passenger's side. Lifting Sarah from the truck and settling her on his hip, he grabbed her inhaler and locked his truck before carrying her inside.

If he hadn't been so concerned with Sarah's raspy breaths, he probably would have had a good laugh when he came across a sign that read 'Family Planning Advice, Use Rear Entrance' with an arrow pointing to the back door of the clinic. Instead, Puck found the sign that directed him toward urgent care and started walking down the hallway in fast strides.

Heading towards the check-in desk, Puck noticed that the waiting room was packed full of people, but that was to be expected since it was a free clinic. He just hoped that Sarah wouldn't be forced to wait very long to receive treatment.

"What seems to be the trouble?" a kind, yet exhausted looking nurse asked politely as Puck stepped up to the desk.

He adjusted his hold on Sarah before answering, "My sister Sarah has asthma. She had an attack a few nights ago and one at school this morning but her inhaler doesn't seem to be working. She's still having trouble breathing."

The nurse frowned in concern as she stepped around the desk and laid a hand on the little girl's heaving back. "How long has she been like this?" she inquired, her gaze still focused on Sarah as her hand moved up to check the little girl's forehead for fever.

"The school nurse said she's been having problems all morning. It only got really bad about forty five minutes ago." Puck explained, using the hand that was not securing Sarah to his hip to reach behind and pull the rolled up paperwork from his pocket. "I have permission to get her medical treatment." He stated hurriedly, handing the forms over to the nurse.

The nurse looked Sarah over briefly before nodding her head, "Let's get her into a room. It's not good for her to be breathing like this."

***GLEE***

Kurt sighed as he drummed his pencil against the table he was sitting at. His pre-calculus book was open in front of him as he waited for Puck to join him, but the lunch period was almost over and the jock had yet to show.

His head snapped up as booming voices and familiar cackling laughter filled the otherwise silent library, followed by the elderly librarian's poor attempt to shush them. Recognizing Karofsky's voice, Kurt snapped his book closed and quickly gathered his things, ducking behind the shelve that housed all of the musical scores, a place he knew Karofsky wouldn't go near.

"Dude, how do people find books in this place? There's like a billion of them."

Kurt rolled his eyes at the Neanderthal's statement and bit his lip to stop a retort from spilling out of his mouth. He stayed hidden until he was sure all o the jocks had left, and then exited the library as well. One thing was for sure, Noah Puckerman was going to get a thorough bitching out the next time Kurt saw him.

***GLEE***

"Noah, I wanna go home!" Sarah all but wined from her seat in Puck's truck as the teen pulled into the parking lot of Kroger's grocery store.

"I know Squirt, but the doctor prescribed you a different inhaler and I'll get it cheaper at the pharmacy here because I work here. It'll only take a few minutes." He reasoned, twirling one of her curls around his index finger. "You were really brave at the doctor's today, just hand on a little while longer and then we can go home and I'll make some spaghetti. That's your favorite right?"

"Yes." Sarah nodded, leaning back against the seat as she turned to face her brother. "Will you carry me?"

Puck smiled and nodded. Sarah was his weakness for sure. Getting out of the truck and hoisting Sarah onto his hip once again, he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head when she rested it against his shoulder.

"What are you going to do when you're too big to be carried?" he asked her playfully as they entered the store.

"I'm never gonna be too big." Came her muffled reply.

Puck chuckled softly, but didn't respond as he weaved his way through the aisles filled with shoppers. He turned the corner leading to the pharmacy and almost ran smack dab into Kurt Hummel.

"Sorry Hummel." Puck mumbled an apology as he tried to side step the smaller teen.

"Not so fast Puckerman." The iciness in Kurt's voice made Puck freeze in his tracks. "I believe I deserve an explanation." He demanded, hands on his hips and that all too familiar bitch face in place, though he would never tell the boy that in fear of yet another contradicting lecture.

"An explanation for what?" Puck asked, adjusting his hold on Sarah and Kurt finally noticed the little body cradled against Puck's side.

"You stood me up." Kurt stated, his voice a bit softer than it had been a moment ago.

Puck raised an eyebrow, "Since when did we have a date?"

"Not a date you Moron!" Kurt hissed, rather exasperated. Sarah watched the exchange with wide, curious eyes. "We were supposed to meet in the library at lunch today to go over pre-calc. Because you were a no show, I had to cower in the corner like a scolded child when Karofsky and his goons showed up."

"First of all, I'm not a moron." Puck countered dully the moment Kurt stopped speaking. "In the welsh vocabulary, moron means carrot, and I know for a fact that I don't resemble a carrot in any way shape or form." Puck couldn't help but smirk when he saw Kurt's facial expression. "Yeah, chew on that one Hummel." He stated cockily, "And second of all, I did not ditch you on purpose. This is my little sister Sarah." He introduced, motioning to the body resting on his hip. "She had an asthma attack at school and I had to leave to take her to see a doctor."

Kurt open and closed his mouth a few times, dong a perfect impression of a fish if you asked Puck, as he searched for the right words to say. "I'm sorry." He finally spit out, nervousness taking over his frame as if he expected Puck to take a swing at him, six year old in his arms or not.

Puck signed, feeling a tad bit guilty for not telling Kurt he had to leave but to be fair, he had had more important things on his mind at the time. "You need to be anywhere right now Hummel?"

"Why?" Kurt asked suspicion lacing his voice.

"Give me a minute to pick up her meds and then I'll lead you back to my place so I can help you with your math." When Kurt just stood there without protest, Puck turned around to continue on to the pharmacy, but paused a few steps away, "Grab another tub of ice cream, and I mean _real_ ice cream and not that low fat vanilla crap you have in your hand. If I'm providing dinner, you're providing dessert.

***GLEE***

**A/N: **So we saw some Puck/Kurt interaction and the next chapter there will be more of that. Like I said before, this will be kind of slow starting so you get to know the characters a bit better. Anyway, I'm off on vacation, I'll be back probably sometime next week with an update! ~Katy


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

While his instincts told him not too, Kurt waited in his precious Navigator for Puck and his sister to exit the grocery store. Recognizing the fancy car standing amongst all of the ordinary ones in the parking lot, Puck waved at Kurt before pointing at his own vehicle. Kurt nodded and watched as Puck opened the passenger's side door of his run down truck and helped his sister get settled before walking around the front and sliding behind the wheel. Kurt waited to start his own ignition until he saw Puck's truck sputter to life. He waited as Puck carefully pulled out of his parking spot before pulling out of his own and following the beat up truck out of the parking lot and into the street.

The drive to Puck's apartment complex was rather short and after Kurt parked his car in one of the designated visitor spots, he lent forward and stared at the building through his windshield. He was fairly certain that Puck hadn't lived here his whole life. Finn had told him tales of childhood memories involving the Puckerman's backyard and stomping through a vegetable garden. He exited his car and waited patiently on the sidewalk until Puck joined him a few moments later, Sarah settled onto his hip once again and a prescription bag in his hand.

"It's over this way." Puck stated, nodding his head in the appropriate direction before heading off that way, Kurt following silently behind him.

"From the stories Finn's told me, I've always thought you lived in a house." Kurt said casually, trying to break the eerie silence that settled over them as he tried to talk himself out of running back to his car and driving home.

Puck grimaced as he led them up a small flight of stairs, his keys jingling in his hand as he searched for the one that would open the front door of the apartment he stopped in front of. "Yeah…well," he sighed, pushing the key into the lock and turning it. "We had to downsize a few months ago." He let the door swing open and stepped inside, flipping on the lights and dropping his keys on the small kitchen counter a few feet away. "This is home now."

Kurt followed Puck inside the apartment slowly, stopping to close the door behind him. He didn't step any farther into the room, preferring to stay near the door in case this all turned out to be some kind of elaborate joke and he needed to make a hasty exit. Puck deposited Sarah into a chair at their small kitchen table and helped her remove her jacket before looking over at Kurt, one eye brow raised and his mouth turned up into a smirk.

"You're going to have to come a little closer if you actually want me to help you with your homework." He stated, turning around to pull out spaghetti noodles and a can of tomato sauce out of a nearby cupboard.

Kurt cautiously stepped towards the table, taking a seat across from Sarah and offering the little girl the kindest smile he could muster. Sarah stared at him curiously but didn't speak.

"You gonna get that assignment out anytime soon?" Puck's voice startled him and he jumped a little in his seat. Puck smirked from where he stood at the sink, filling a pan with water. "Don't act so jumpy Hummel. It's just the three of us here and I'm not going to beat you up. I haven't done anything to you in a while now, and if Sarah can take you down, you seriously need to buck up on your self defense skills."

Kurt narrowed his eyes at Puck's back as the other teen put the water filled pot on the stove. "For the hundredth time, my name is _Kurt_. While some choose to go by hideous nicknames or pretend like they do not have a first name, I actually prefer to be called by the name my mother gave me. Its four measly letters and sounds exactly how it is spelled. Kurt. Not _dude_ or _Hummel_, just Kurt. I know that when your brain is the size of a pea, it may take a little longer for concepts to sink in, but we have attended the same schools since kindergarten; you should know my name by now."

Puck turned around to face Kurt, a hand sprawled across the left side of his chest and a mock look of pain gracing his face. "You're insults hurt me! They truly do. It feels like you've stabbed me with that vicious nail file you carry around. My heart is bleeding." He slumped against the counter behind him as he pretended to wither in pain.

"You don't have a heart." Kurt mumbled as he ignored his classmate and pulled his pre-calculus book from his bag and set it on the table.

"Noah?" the small voice captured the attention of both teenage boys in the room. They both focused on her immediately, Puck because Sarah's pretty much the center of his whole world, and Kurt because he had yet to hear the girl speak.

"What's up Squirt?" The teasing that was in his voice when speaking with Kurt has disappeared, his tone now gentle and calming making Kurt's eyebrows raise in shock.

"Are you helping him with his homework like you help me with mine?" Sarah asked innocently, looking over at her brother.

"Yeah. He needs a little help with his math." He told her, turning away for a moment to stir the sauce before focusing back on Sarah.

"Is that all you're helping him with?" she asked curiously, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yep." He popped the 'p' at the end of the word, while opening their junk drawer and extracting a Barbie coloring book and a small box of crayons and placing them on the table in front of his sister. "Why?" he asked, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as he leaned over her. Kurt could only watch in wonder. This was definitely not the Puck he saw at school every day.

"'Cause I think he needs your help with other stuff too." She stated simply, opening her coloring book to no particular page.

Kurt focused on the little girl, his eyebrows raised at the statement while Puck only chuckled. "And why do you think I need to help him with other things too?" he prompted, watching as Sarah dug a blue crayon from her box.

"'Cause he just said you don't have a heart." Sarah explained without looking up at either of the boys. "Even _I_ know that everyone has a heart and I'm _six_."

Puck didn't even try to hold in his laughter at his sister's very blunt and dry statement. He had to wrap an arm around himself as he lost it. Kurt stared at the top of Sarah's head, a look of embarrassment combined with bitchiness and he so desperately wanted to tell her off and say that of course he knows that everyone has a heart. However, the big brown curious eyes that look up from her coloring book, confusion shining through them as she watched her brother die of laughter had him biting his tongue and a small smile began to form on his face. One look at Puck, whose eyes are scrunched closed and face red from laughter was all it took for Kurt to be dissolved in giggles, leaving Sarah to look between the two in bewilderment.

***GLEE***

"I don't care what x equals!" Kurt exclaimed with a frustrated pout, throwing his pen down onto his textbook and shooting said book a death glare so hot that Puck was sure the pages were going to burst into flames at any moment.

"You're making it harder than it is 'cause you're over thinking it. You over think_ everything_." Puck gave a dry laugh and lent back in his chair.

"I do not!" Kurt protested, turning his glare to Puck instead of the textbook of evil open in front of him.

"Yes you do." Puck countered immediately. "You know what y is. Finding what x equals is easy now. Just look at the facts you have in front of you."

Kurt grumbled and picked his pen back up, attempting to solve his final problem again. Puck watched silently, only speaking up when Kurt went off in the wrong direction to help him get back on track. Small hands on his knee drew his attention away from Kurt and he turned to offer Sarah a bright smile.

"Hey Squirt." He greeted softly, reaching out to pull the little girl onto his lap.

Sarah cuddled close to her brother's chest, yawning into his shirt before burying her face into it and closing her eyes. Puck wrapped his arms around her and held her close, rocking her side to side gently and pressing a kiss to the crown of her.

"M'tired." Her small voice was muffled by Puck's chest, but he understood anyway. He glanced at the microwave's clock, noting just how late it had gotten.

" You want to get ready for bed?" he asked her softly, pressing another kiss to her forehead. Sarah nodded sluggishly. "Alright. Let me go get your new inhaler first. You need to take it before bed." He told her, standing up and placing her down in his vacated seat before heading to the bathroom where he had stored the new inhaler after they had arrived home.

Finishing his last problem, Kurt shut his textbook softly and smiled at the tired little girl in front of him. She looked a lot like Puck, though she had more hair than her brother. Long brown curls hung over her shoulders and down her back and he couldn't help but smile as her small fists rubbed at her eyes as another large yawn racked her body.

"You have really pretty hair." He complimented, and the little girl shot him a beaming smile.

"It's like my Mommy's!" her smile falling slightly when she realized what she said. "I wanted a braid today." She mumbled, "But Noah doesn't know how to do braids."

"Would you like me to braid your hair now?" Kurt offered. He didn't know why her bright smile had suddenly dimmed, but he wanted to bring it back.

Sarah looked at him with wide eyes. "_You_ know how to braid?" she asked in amazement and Kurt chuckled as he nodded his head.

"Yep. Would you like me braid your hair before you go to bed?"

"Yes please! Yes Please! Yes Please!" Sarah was out of her chair and bouncing on the balls of her feet in the blink of an eye.

Kurt chuckled. "Alright." He patted his lap before reaching for her, "Get up here."

After settling Sarah on his lap, Kurt used his fingers to comb through her long locks, trying to get all the tangles out before he separated it into three sections and began to braid, humming softly under his breath as he did so.

Puck entered the room a moment later, watching silently and Kurt created a perfect braid for his sister. Sarah was smiling happily on Kurt's lap, her legs swinging in time to Kurt's hums and Puck almost felt jealous. He wanted to be able to do things like that for his sister, but there was no way in hell that he was going to ask Hummel…no, _Kurt_, there was no way he was going to ask Kurt to teach him how to braid hair. Knowing that Kurt was going to need something to secure the braid in place, Puck shoved himself away from the wall and stepped back down the hall and into the bathroom, searching the drawers for one of those colorful rubber band thingies that held girls' hair in place. Finding one, he returned to the kitchen, offering the rubber band thingie –_what were those called again?-to_ Kurt, who looked up at him in shock before nodding in thanks and using it to secure the end of the braid.

"There. You're all done!" Kurt told Sarah, smiling at her as he reached into his bag and pulled out a travel mirror he kept in there. He offered Sarah the mirror and allowed her to inspect her new hairdo.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Sarah all but squealed, turning in Kurt's lap and throwing her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug.

Kurt chuckled and wrapped his arms around her small frame, returning the embrace. "You're welcome." He told her happily.

"I hate to break up this happy little moment, but you need to take your meds." Puck stated from beside them, shaking Sarah's new inhaler in his hand before holding it up to her mouth. "You know the drill."

Sarah sighed, but put her mouth over the inhaler and waited for her brother to press down, distributing the medicated mist into her lungs. She held her breath for ten seconds before letting it out and placing her mouth back on the inhaler for a second dose. Once she was done, Puck capped the inhaler and nodded toward the hallway.

"Say goodnight to Kurt and go get you PJ's on." He instructed.

"Goodnight Kurt! Thank you for my braid!"She told her brother's friend, giving him another hug before sliding off his lap and skipping down the hall to her room.

Puck placed the inhaler on the counter and proceeded to take the dishes littering the table to the sink while Kurt packed up his belongings.

"Does your Mom always work this late?" the question caught Puck off guard and the plate he was holding clattered against the porcelain sink as he lost his grip.

"Uhh…yeah. I mean…sometimes." He lied, not looking up from the sink.

"Well, thanks for the help. And I really, honestly mean it." Kurt's voice was sincere and Puck turned away from the sink to face him.

"You're welcome."

"Well, I suppose I should go." Kurt said as he slung his satchel over his shoulder. "I had a surprisingly nice time tonight. You're not as cruel in your own home, and your sister's adorable."

"Yeah, she is." Puck replied, choosing to ignore Kurt's remark about his school persona. "Look…I know Ryder's handing out a new assignment on Friday to do over the weekend…" Kurt groaned and Puck couldn't help but smile. "I work Friday night and most of Saturday, but if you need help with it you can come over Sunday afternoon and we can work on it." He offered

"You work?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Yeah. At Kroger's." Puck revealed, embarrassment making his cheeks flush. "It's not much, but it's a paycheck."

"Oh…that's nice." Kurt didn't know what to say. Working was a responsible endeavor and responsible was a word he probably wouldn't have used to describe Noah Puckerman before tonight, "Well, I suppose I'll take you up on your offer. My brain was made for things like fashion and music, _not _numbers and shapes." Kurt huffed as he made his way to the door, Puck following a little ways behind him. "So, I'll see you on Sunday then?"

"I'll see you on Sunday Hum- _Kurt_." He confirmed, seeing Kurt out and closing the door once the smaller teen had exited the apartment.

Kurt stared at the closed apartment door for a moment before shaking his head and heading towards his car. The Puck he had seen that evening was nothing like the Puck he had came to know at school. He smiled to himself, he was looking forward to Sunday. He liked being around this new version of Puck, and Sarah was just plain adorable. And if he happened to get a passing pre-calculus grade out of all of this? Well, that would just be a bonus.

***GLEE***

_A/N: Thanks for the feed back on the last chapter! It mean the world to me! Hopefully you enjoyed this one as well! I'll get some more up whenever my school and work schedule allows! ~Katy_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The following morning found Kurt at school relatively early. He had figured out that if he arrived at school early, before anyone else, it was less likely that he would become acquainted with the trash in the dumpster outside since the Neanderthals passing as jocks wouldn't be caught dead at school early. He had sat himself down in front of his locker with his pre-calculus book on his lap, trying to get some more studying done because, let's be honest, he needed all the help he could get. However, his mind would not cooperate. Ever since he had left the Puckerman apartment the previous evening, he couldn't pull his thoughts away from what he had seen.

The Noah Puckerman he had known for the last 10 years of school was definitely not who he had spent the evening with. This Puck had shamelessly hovered over the stove to cook his little sister's favorite meal. This Puck had helped Kurt work though difficult math problems. This Puck didn't bat an eye as he colored Barbie's sundress at his sister's request. Kurt was so used to the Puck whose face was always crumpled into a glare all day long. He was used to the Puck who helped toss him into dumpsters and gave him more slushie facials than Kurt would care to count. They were two incredibly different people housed in the same body and he was having trouble processing it and it had him wondering which Puck he'd see at school today.

He hadn't realized how long he had been sitting there, but when two feet stopped next to him, Kurt took notice of the many bodies littering the once vacant hallway now that the start of first period was fast approaching. He looked at the feet next to him and followed the jean clad legs that were connected to them until he was looking directly up at Puck, who was looking down at him, a smile on his face and a slushie cup in his hand. '_Well'_ Kurt thought, '_I guess that answers my question.' _Kurt snapped his eyes shut and held his breath, waiting for the ice and artificial flavoring to rain down upon him.

"What are you doing?" came the amused question from above.

"Waiting for the ice cold wake up call." Kurt replied snarkily, his eyes still squeezed shut in anticipation.

Realization dawned on him, and Puck was quick to reassure that smaller teen. "Dude, I'm not going to dump this on you!"

Kurt cracked one eye open and looked at the boy above him, not quite believing him, "You're not?" he questioned suspiciously and Puck chuckled.

"It's a gift from Sarah for doing that twisty thing to her hair last night. She wouldn't talk to me for a month if I dumped it on you instead of allowing you to drink it."

Kurt stood slowly, tucking his math book beneath his eyeing Puck cautiously, "From Sarah?"

"Yep. She cracked out the piggy bank this morning and insisted we stop and get you one. You should feel special 'cause she doesn't even buy me slushies." Puck commented with a smirk. "And don't lecture me about empty calories. It was her idea, so take that up with her. She picked out the flavor too, so you can't bitch to me about that either!"

"It's from Sarah? Really?"

"Didn't we just go over this Hummel? What are you, a broken record?"

Kurt narrowed his eyes at Puck before snatching the cup from the larger boy's hand and placing it into his open locker. "What did I tell you about calling me a bitch?"

"I didn't call _you_ a bitch. I was implying that you had bitchy tendencies. That's totally different." Puck protested.

Kurt rolled his eyes as he de-papered his straw and stuck it into the slushie cup. "It's not _that_ different. And don't call me Hummel either!"

Puck let out an exasperated sigh as he lent against the locker beside Kurt's. "You're really not leaving me a lot of options here. Just what am I supposed to call you?"

"Why don't you try my _name_. I'm really quite fond of it." Kurt suggested, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Nah…" Puck stated immediately as he pushed himself off of the locker. He shrugged when he saw the raised eyebrow look Kurt was giving him. "It just doesn't do you justice." He added before he disappeared down the hall.

Kurt shook his head at Puck's retreating form before gathering the books he would need for his morning classes. He paused before slamming his locker shut, his eyes landing on the cup filled with artificial flavoring and ice that he usually thought of as a weapon rather than a sugary treat. A smile formed on his face as he thought of the little girl who had given it to him. That smile was still firmly in place as he picked up the drink, shut his locker and headed for his first period class.

***GLEE***

"What's up with you, Squirt?" Puck asked, his deep voice breaking through the silence inside the car. Sarah hadn't so much as uttered a word since he had picked her up from Superplay. "Did something happen at school?"

He briefly glanced away from the road to look over at his sister. His concern only rose when he saw Sarah wiping tears from her cheeks. Puck immediately took a right and pulled into a 7-11 parking lot. He threw his truck into park and killed the engine before reaching over and undoing both of their seatbelts so he could pull his sister into his lap.

"Hey, what happened?" He questioned gently, using his thumbs to brush away Sarah's tears.

Sarah sniffled, "There's this big kid at school, his name's Kyle. I think he's in fifth grade. He was making fun of me at lunch time because I don't have a Dad. He said that my Dad didn't want me and all his friends were laughing at me." She cried into her brother's chest.

"Listen Squirt," Puck said softly with a sigh. "Dad wasn't a nice person. He was mean and angry all the time. He left because he wanted to leave, not because of you."

"But Mommy left too!" Sarah protested as tears continued to fall from her eyes. Her big, red-rimmed, brown eyes looked up at her brother and Puck felt his heart break. "Now I don't have a Mommy or a Daddy! They didn't like me! They don't love me! That's why they left! I try to be a good girl Noah, I really do. And I'm gonna try harder, just please don't leave me too!" She begged, her tiny fists clutching her brothers shirt tightly as she sobbed.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Puck cooed gently, pushing Sarah away so he could look into her teary eyes. He brushed her bangs back and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "None of that is your fault. Just ignore that kid 'cause he has no idea what he's talking about. Sometimes Mommies and Daddies just aren't good people. " he said sadly, "But that's not your fault, so do not blame yourself. Dad left because…he just didn't want to be a Dad. And mom," Puck paused, trying to find the right words, "Mom's sick. And she left to get some help so she could get better. But she loved you. She still does. She just can't be here right now."

"Is she going to come back?" Sarah sniffled, lifting her arm up to wipe her nose on her sleeve and Puck didn't have the heart to scold her.

"I don't know." He answered honestly. "But I can promise you one thing."

"What?"

"I will _always_ be here for you. I'm not going anywhere Squirt, so get used to it. No matter how good, or bad you are, I will always be here." He reassured her, pulling her small body close to his and pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

"I love you, Noah." Sarah whispered into her brother's shirt.

"I love you more." Puck teased, smiling triumphantly when he heard Sarah's infectious giggle.

"Nu-uh!" She stated, pulling away and fiercely shaking her head. "I love _you_ more!"

"Not possible kiddo." He said with a smile, his fingers tickling Sarah's ribs, earning a loud squeal. "How about we go home, eat some unhealthy pizza and watch a movie until bedtime?" He suggesting, letting Sarah crawl back into her seat and after securing both of their seatbelts once again, Puck started the truck and headed for home.

***GLEE***

Kurt had just finished putting the dishes from dinner into the dishwasher when his phone buzzed on the counter beside him. Picking it up, he frowned at the screen when it told him he had an unopened text message from Puck. Hesitantly, he opened the message feeling more confused than ever as he read it

_**U know anything bout teddy bears?**_

Not quite knowing where this conversation was going, Kurt decided to go with his usual snark as he hit reply.

_Just because I'm gay, doesn't mean I'm a girl_

A reply from Puck came a moment later,

_**No need to be rude sweet cheeks. I was just askin. I'm tryin to pick something nice out for the Squirt**_

Kurt frowned at the pet name. _Sweet Cheeks_? Really? He decided he preferred Hummel over that any day. But his heart melted a little when he saw that Puck was wanting to do something nice for his sister.

_You help me with pre-calc this weekend, I'll help you pick something nice out for Sarah_

It took less than a minute for Kurt to get a reply

_**You've got yourself a deal sweet cheeks**_

_And don't call me Sweet Cheeks!_

As Kurt sent his final reply, he couldn't help but frown. The fluttery feeling in his stomach was an unfamiliar one and it only increased when he thought about spending time with Puck that coming weekend. Trying to shake the feeling off, Kurt headed down to his room to take a shower before starting on his homework.

***GLEE***

**A/N: **Sorry for how long it took me to update. I came down with the flu and then had to spend my time catching up on school work. I cannot wait until college is over with! Only one more year! Anyway, I appreciate all the love shown to this story and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will update as soon as I possibly can! ~Katy


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **I'm so sorry about the crazy long wait! School's been kicking my ass! But on the plus side, there's only 5 more weeks until summer break! Anyway, hopefully there's people who still want to read this!

**Chapter 7**

Sunday morning found Kurt jumping into his baby and heading over to the Puckerman apartment complex. Take care to make sure he was parking in an approved visitors spot, because if there was one thing he didn't need it was his care getting towed, Kurt entered the maze of apartments. Two wrong turns later, Kurt found himself outside of the apartment he was pretty sure was Puck's. Knocking lightly on the door, Kurt rocked back on his heels. When no movement was heard from the other side of the door, Kurt knocked again only to frown when the door still didn't open. Opting for one more try, Kurt knocked for a third time and called out,

"Puckerman!"

"Yelling isn't going to make me get there any faster." A voice called out from behind him.

Kurt spun around to find Puck a few feet away, a basket of laundry in his hands. Kurt smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. I thought you over slept of something." He said, stepping away from the door as Puck got closer.

"With a six year old in a small apartment, there is no such thing as over sleeping…or sleeping in for that matter." Puck said with a laugh as he balanced the basket between his hip and left arm while he used his other hand to unlock and open the apartment door. "I had to go down and do at least one load of laundry. I ran out of clean boxers this morning. "

Kurt's face crumpled into an expression of disgust. "Too much information." Kurt proclaimed, his eyes clamping shut as if to will away the thought.

Puck chuckled, "Anyway, I dropped the Squirt off at a friend's house. I don't have to pick her up until right before dinner, so we've got plenty of time. Do you want to work on your math first? Or start with trying to help me pick something nice out for the Munchkin?"

"I'm starting to think that you don't know anyone's real names. Squirt and Munchkin? That poor little girl is going to have a complex over her height one day."

"Dude, I know my own sister's name." Puck said dryly as he set the laundry basket on the kitchen table. "But Sarah just doesn't do the kid justice, just like your name doesn't. Besides, nicknames are a form of endearment. If you give someone a nickname, it shows that you care about them."

"So Karofsky calling me a _fag _every time I walk by him is his way of showing that he cares?" Kurt scoffed, his pulling his arms across his chest in disbelief.

"No." Puck countered immediately. "That's not a nickname. That's Karofsky being a jackass. Nicknames are supposed to be funny, or cute. They're not supposed to be mean."

"Isn't that kind of like the pot calling the kettle black? Considering you used to bully me right along with him." Kurt pointed out, his eyebrows raised in question.

"Karofsky's a bigoted asshole who needs to learn a thing or two about acceptance. I never bullied you because you were gay. I could care less where you decide you want to put your dick." If Kurt had been drinking something, he would've done a pretty decent impression of a spitting cobra at the crude statement. "That was never what it was about." Puck continued. "If it had been ,you wouldn't be standing in my living room right now."

"Then what was it about?" Kurt pressed. "I think you owe me at least the truth."

"Look around you Hummel!" Puck threw his arms wide and gestured around the room. "We don't have a lot. When my old man split, Mom decided to drown herself in the bottle. Hell, she doesn't even remember when Dad came home for all of 3 days when I was ten. Two weeks later she found out about Sarah. The 8 months she was pregnant with Sarah were the only memories I have of her ever being sober. 1st through 5th grade all my clothes were Finn's hand me downs because Carole felt sorry for me."

Puck sighed and lent heavily against the kitchen counter, one hand running through the short hairs of his Mohawk. "I was bitter kid. Still kind of am. I remember when you Mom died." He stated, making Kurt's whole body tense. "As sick and horrible as it sounds, I was happy. I thought maybe, _just maybe_, you'd understand how I felt. My Dad wasn't dead, but he might as well have been. And Finn….he never knew his old man, so he didn't get it. But then, you wouldn't even give me the time of day when I tried to talk to you. I watched as you got over the grief and your life went back to normal….or as normal as possible with one parent, while mine still stayed as shitty as ever. At the end of the day you still had a Dad. One who actually gave a damn about you and that loved you and cared about you and would do anything in his power to protect you. All I went home to was an empty and cold house. I'm not saying what I put you though was justified, because some of the shit I did to you and others was horrible and I'm not proud of it. But, I understand now and I'm trying to change. I'm not changing for me either. I could care less where I end up in life, 'cause with my genes I'm always going to be a Lima loser by default. I'm trying to change for Sarah, 'cause she can be so much more than this farm town, and I'm going to make sure she gets out of here."

Puck's hear beat is a little faster than normal by the time he finishes his rant, but his eyes are shinning with so many different emotions that Kurt really can't fathom holding the years of bullying against him. Not when Puck's lived more horrors in his life than he ever inflicted on Kurt. Besides, truth be told, Puck's bullying was never violent. Mean, yes. Infuriating, yes. Embarrassing, yes. But, with the exception of one locker check freshman year, it had never been violent.

"Let's het Sarah's gift first." Kurt suggested, watching as a puzzled expression fell across Puck's features at the sudden topic change before a smile replaced it.

"You just don't' want to work on Pre-Calculus." Puck said with a knowing smirk, but his eyes were shining in relief.

"Damn straight!" Kurt exclaimed with a smirk of his own. "This is procrastination at its finest. Come on, we'll take my car."

***GLEE***

"Welcome to Build-A-Bear!" Kurt said happily, extending his arms in flourish.

Puck looked around the store in awe. There were many kids and adults alike, roaming around the small store stuffed creatures in their arms. The place was too bright and happy. Puck would never be caught dead in this place. Leave it to Kurt to know the perfect place to go to pick out a present for a six year old girl.

"The first step is picking out what animal you want. They've got cats, bunnies, frogs, turtles, bears, dogs, dinosaurs….they've got just about every animal a six year old could think of. Does she have a favorite animal?" Kurt asked, looking over at Puck while the larger teen studied his options.

"She's six. She likes all animals. She talks about cats and dogs all the time…but I think I just want to go the classic route and get her a bear." Puck revealed, his eyes traveling the length of the wall where all of the different animals were displayed.

"Okay…" Kurt drew out the word. "That narrows it down a little bit, but the store is called Build-A-_Bear_. There are ton's of different bears. Which one do you want?"

Puck stepped closer to the display wall, starting at one end, he reached out to touch each bear as he walked down the line. He stopped when he came to a light brown bear with the softest fur he had felt so far.

"This one." He stated simply, looking at Kurt over his shoulder.

"Alright." Kurt stepped over to him and took one of the flat bear forms from the barrel beneath the display. "Now you need to stuff it." He stated, shoving the form into Puck's hands before pushing him towards the stuffing machine.

The employee sitting at the machine smiled at him as she took the form and placed the nozzle of the machine inside it before stepping on the peddle. "You need to pick out a heart." She instructed, pointing to a small bucked of hearts. Puck reached in and drew out a solid pink heart. "Now place a kiss on either side of it." The employee instructed.

Puck shot a glare in Kurt's direction, the countertenor looking down at his feet in an attempt to hide his laughter. He watched out of the corner of his eyes as Puck did as he was asked and brought the small heart up to his lips and pressed a kiss to one side before flipping it around and doing the same to the other side. He handed it back to the employee and watched as she placed it inside the half stuffed bear.

"Do you want to put a sound in it?" the woman asked

"Sound?" Puck repeated dumbly.

"They've got voice boxes you can put in there if you want. There's a bear growl….there's one that sings happy birthday or you could create your own." Kurt explained, moving to stand where the different voice boxes were located.

"You can create your own?" Puck asked, turning to look at the woman before him for confirmation.

She smiled and nodded, "Yeah…just take it into that room over there so you won't capture the background noise and you can record your own message. There are instruction with the box."

Puck nodded, stepping over to where Kurt was. Locating the container that held the voice boxes without recordings, Puck grabbed one before disappearing into the room the woman had pointed out without so much as a glance back at Kurt.

He returned a moment later with the box in hand and watched silently as he woman placed it into the arm of the bear before finishing stuffing it. He could feel Kurt's gaze on his back and he knew the boy was itching to ask what he had recorded into the voice box, but was too chicken to actually ask. Puck wasn't really sure he wanted to share that information either. This was going to be between him and Sarah. Taking the now stuffed and sewn bear from the employee, he looked to Kurt for guidance on what the next step was.

"Now you give it a bath." Kurt supplied.

"Come again?"

Kurt chuckled before gripping Puck's wrist and hauling him to the corner where a "bathtub" was set up. He took the bear from Puck and placed it on the tub before pressing the foot peddle on the floor. A burst of air blew from the shower nozzle above and Kurt couldn't stifle his laughter when Puck startled beside him. After giving the bear a thorough "bath" be handed it back to Puck.

"Now you can dress it up. Is it a girl bear or a boy bear?" Kurt inquired.

"Sarah's only six. I don't feel comfortable with her sharing her bed with a boy…even if it is just a stuffed bear." Kurt shook his head in amusement but refrained from pointing out Puck illogical reason. "You're the one who knows clothes. You pick out what to dress this thing in."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Fine. Though my fashion expertise do not extend to stuffed animal fashion." He stated as he surveyed the options before him. "You need to think of a name for this lovely animal."

"Why?"

"Because you will need to fill out a birth certificate before you leave." Kurt informed him and he lifted an outfit off a rack to inspect.

"You're joking right?" Puck asked.

"Nope. Now go sit at one of those computers there and fill it out." Kurt all but ordered as he began to dress the bear.

***GLEE***

"Math was created by the Devil." Kurt all but moaned out, allowing his head to fall to the table.

After completing the birth certificate for Sarah's bear, now named Cuddles, thanks to Puck, the two had grabbed lunch at the mall's food court before heading back to Puck's apartment to work on Kurt's dreaded math homework.

Puck had been drifting between the room's of the apartment, completing various household chores but stopping every once in a while at the kitchen table to look over Kurt's shoulder and make sure he was completing his homework correctly. The larger male chuckled from his place on the couch where he was folding laundry when he heard Kurt's exclamation.

"It's really not that bad." Puck countered as he stood up and made his way over to Kurt. "You just over think it and get frustrated. Just follow the steps and you'll get it."

Kurt glared at his classmate, "I think I liked you better when I thought you had a peanut sized brain."

Puck leaned across the table so he was face to face with Kurt before smirking, "Hate to break it to you Princess, but there's _nothing_ small about me." His stated, his voice husky and low. Kurt felt a blush rising to his cheeks at the innuendo and all Puck could do was laugh. "I'm going to go pick up the Squirt." He straightened up and stepped away from the table and Kurt finally felt as if he could breathe again. "Just keep working on that problem. I'll be back in like, ten minutes." He explained, grabbing his keys from the kitchen counter and heading for the door.

When the front door closed and Puck's retreating footsteps were heard, Kurt allowed his head to fall into the palm of his hands as he allowed himself to take in a deep breath in an attempt to will away the blush that was littering his pale cheeks. There were moments, like the one that had just happened, when Kurt was almost positive that Puck was flirting with him, but it just didn't make any sense. Puck was straight. He was probably doing it on purpose just to fluster him, and if that was the case, God help him because Kurt was going to make sure that man could never father a child.

Needing something to do that wouldn't tax his already confused brain; Kurt stood from the table and made his way over to the stove. Finding a book labeled "Sarah's Favorites", Kurt reached for it and opened it up to find a listing of Sarah's favorite dinners. After searching through the cupboards to find out what the Puckerman's had food wise, Kurt picked out an appropriate recipe and started making dinner for the three of them.

While waiting for the water to boil, Kurt took the opportunity to look around the apartment. He hadn't really had the time to take in the small living quarters without feeling like he was snooping. Without Puck's watchful gaze, Kurt wandered freely through the small home. He noted that while there were a few framed pictures of Noah and Sarah together, there were no other photographs in the home. Nothing to show whether Puck looked more like his mother or his father, nothing to document either Puckerman children's early childhood. The three pictures that were displayed both looked to have been taken within the last year or so.

Wondering down the hall, Kurt stopped off at the first closed door. He twisted the knob and opened to reveal a closet filled with linens and various jackets of both Puck and Sarah's. Continuing down the hall, Kurt entered the room he knew to be Sarah's if the pink walls and butterflies were anything to go off of. The little girl's room was rather bare for a six year olds. Various dolls and barbies strewn across the floor. Her room was nowhere near as cluttered with toys as Kurt's had been at her age. Then he remembered Puck's words from earlier that morning._ "We don't have a lot."_ The newly acquired teddy bear sat in the center of the girl's bed waiting to be discovered when she got home.

Exiting the room, Kurt took note that there were only two more doors in the hallway. One he knew led to the bathroom; the other he assumed was a second bedroom. Kurt's brow furrowed in puzzlement. It was a two bedroom apartment housing three people? Assuming that the last bedroom probably belonged to Puck's mother, where did Puck sleep? On the couch? He was about to investigate the last room when the sound of water overflowing and hitting the hot burner filled his ears.

Racing to the kitchen, Kurt lowered the heat and allowed the water to settle before adding the needed ingredients. Immersing himself with dinner, any thoughts about Puck's mysterious mother left his mind as he attempted to make a lovely dinner for a sweet little girl and he sometimes crude, but charming older brother.

***GLEE***

**A/N: **There was originally more to this, but I felt like was getting really long so I cut it short. Whatever was cut out will be carried over to the next chapter, which hopefully won't take me as long to get done as this one did. Thanks for reading! ~Katy


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **There's More to You Than What You're Showing  
**Characters: **The entire glee club, Mr. Shuester, Burt Hummel, Carol, Sarah Puckerman  
**Pairing: **Eventual Puck/Kurt  
**Genre: **Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, AU  
**Warnings: **un-betaed, slash, AU  
**Rating: **NC-17 eventually  
**Word count**: 1,694 for this chapter, 15,321 total  
**Discalimer: **I do not own glee or any of it's characters nor do I own anything else you may recognize

**Summary: **There's more to Puck than the person he wants everyone to believe he is, and Kurt's going to find out just what that is.

**A/N**: I know it's been a while, but SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER! Meaning, I'll be able to update on a more regular basis. Thank you for your patience, and hopefully there's still some interest for this out there.

***GLEE***

**Chapter 8**

Kurt had just finished setting plates of steaming food onto the Puckerman's small kitchen table when he heard the sound of the front door opening, followed by a small sniffle and a child's sob. Concerned, Kurt rounded the corner of the kitchen until he could see out into the living room where Puck stood, Sarah perched on his hip. The little girl had tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as Puck cradled her close to his chest, Sarah's small hand fisted in the soft cotton of his shirt.

"This is why I always tell you not to run up the steps outside." Puck scolded but his voice was gentle. "It's dangerous and you could really get hurt."

It was then that Kurt noticed the little girl's injury. The right knee of her sparkly blue jeans was torn, revealing the bloody, scraped skin beneath. He winced in sympathy, remembering just how badly scrapes stung, especially when you're little. He watched fondly as Puck soother her softly, passing by Kurt on his way to the bathroom.

Kurt followed the pair silently, not entering the bathroom, but choosing to lean against the open doorway and watch as Puck sat Sarah down on the counter next to the sink before busying himself with searching through drawers for the first aid kit. Finding it, he placed it on the counter beside Sarah.

"Alright Squirt, let's have a look."Puck said softly as he gently pulled up her pant leg to get a better look at the wound. "It's not too bad." He observed as he wet a wash cloth under the faucet and used it to wash away the excess blood and dirt.

Sarah whimpered when the cloth made contact with her sore flesh, a tiny fist coming up to rub at her swollen eyes. She fingered the hole in her jeans as Puck continued to clean the scrape before placing some ointment on it and covering it up with a bandage, placing a kiss of it for good measure which made Kurt smile fondly.

"There's a hole in my pants now." Sarah pointed out tearfully as Puck pulled her pant leg down.

"It's alright, you've got other pairs." He reassured her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head before helping her down from the counter.

"But these were my favorites!" She pouted up at her brother, on the verge of tears again.

"Hey," Kurt stepped in, dropping down to his knees to he was eyelevel with the six year old. "I have a really pretty butterfly patch at home that will go right over that hole. Would that, maybe, work?" he asked the small girl.

Sarah looked up at her brother and at Puck's smile and barely there nod, she faced Kurt once again with a wide smile forming on her face. "Really? You can do that?"

Kurt returned her smile and nodded. "Of course! I'll take them with me after you change into your pajamas and have them fixed in no time."

"Thank you!" Sarah squealed, launching herself at Kurt and throwing her arms around Kurt's neck to give him the biggest hug she could muster.

Puck chuckled as he placed a large palm on top of Sarah's head. "C'mon Squirt, let him breathe." He stated, watching as Sarah unwound her arms from around Kurt's neck. "Besides, something in the kitchen smells really great."

"I kind of raided your kitchen." Kurt blushed , a hand lifting to rub subconsciously at the back of his neck as he stood.

"We appreciate it." Puck offered with a shrug as Sarah ran out of the bathroom and towards the kitchen. "I was just going to throw a frozen pizza into the oven."

The pair made their own way to the kitchen to find Sarah patiently sitting at the table with wide eyes as she stared at the stir fry Kurt had made. Puck chuckled at her expression and ruffled her hair as he sat down next to her.

"Go ahead and eat." He encouraged. "But be careful, it's hot." He cautioned as he lifted his own fork.

"I never thought I'd say this to you, but thanks to you tutoring , I'm actually passing pre-calculus now." Kurt commented, beginning to eat his own dinner.

Puck smirked, "It's been a pleasure Sweet Cheeks." He replied smugly

Kurt groaned and threw his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "What is so wrong with using my actual name?" he whined, though he would never admit to it.

"I don't get this kind of reaction when I use your name. You're kinda funny when you're annoyed, Princess."

Kurt chose to ignore Puck's last comment as he pushed his food around his plate with his fork. "Would you…" he paused to clear his throat, nervousness enveloping him and making him look away from Puck. "Would you consider staying on as my tutor for the rest of the year? Lord knows I'm going to need all the help I can get. I'll pay you for your time." He offered, finally looking up at the boy across the table.

"I'm not going to take your money, Hummel." Puck growled with a shake of his head. "Just let me know when you need help. I know you probably don't want to see my ugly mug on a weekly basis if you don't have to. Hell, you probably would rather be with Aretha at the mall right now." He said, leaning pack in his chair and locking eyes with Kurt. "You can go if you want. You made enough progress on your assignment. You should be able to finish it off on your own."

"No! No! No!" heat rose to Kurt's cheeks as he spoke quickly, " I actually…ahh…I actually like being here." He admitted, embarrassment flooding through him. "You're the only guy who doesn't mind being around me. Guys usually think they'll "catch the gay" from me if they're around me too long." He explained, looking away from Puck. "I mean…Finn's getting better, but he's only trying because our parents are dating. And don't get me wrong, I love Mercedes and the girls but-"

"I get it Kurt." Puck cut him off, his voice gentle. "'Just because you're gay, doesn't mean you're a girl'." Kurt smiled when he heard Puck quote what he had said during their text messaging conversation a few nights ago.

"Thanks." Kurt responded, his voice sincere.

"Noah, can I be done?" a small voice questioned, drawing the two teens' attention.

Seeing that Sarah's small plate was nearly empty, Puck nodded his consent. "Yeah. And if you go look on your bed, there's something special there for you." He hinted and Sarah shot off like a rocket only to let out a squeal a moment later.

"Thank you Noah!" Sarah yelled, bounding into the room and launching herself at Puck, her new teddy bear clutched under one arm.

"You're welcome Squirt." Puck smiled warmly and kissed the crown of her head. "Go thank Kurt too, he helped me." He whispered into the little girl's ear.

Sarah nodded and slipped off of her brother's lap only to climb onto Kurt's wrapping her small arms around Kurt and hugging him to the best of her ability. Kurt smiled softly and wrapped his longer arms around her tiny body.

"Go ahead and press it's arm." Puck encouraged, nodding at the bear still clutched in Sarah hand.

Sarah turned herself around to face her brother and settled on Kurt's lap before finding the voice box in the bear's right arm and pressing it. Puck's voice came out of the bear's voice box, making Sarah's eyes widen with surprise and delight as she listened to her brother sing.

"_My wish for you_

_Is that this life becomes all that you want it to_

_Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small_

_You never need to carry more than you can hold_

_And while you're out there getting where you're getting to_

_I hope you know somebody loves you_

_And wants the same things too_

_Yeah this….is my wish"_

"_Hey Squirt," _Puck's recorded voice was soft and soothing as he went from singing to speaking fondly. "_I just wanted to tell you that I love you so much and I am so proud of you. I will always be here for you not matter what. Don't ever for get that."_

The recording ended and Sarah was off of Kurt's lap and ensnared in her brother's embrace in a split second. Kurt ducked his head to hide the tears that had formed in his eyes while listening to the special message Puck had recorded for his sister. The two siblings had a special bond that almost made Kurt wish had had a sibling.

Sarah was pulling Puck from the table a moment latter, speaking so quickly that Kurt couldn't follow the conversation. Chuckling lightly, he set about clearing the table and loading the dishwasher. By the time he was finished, the apartment was silent. He quietly made his way from the kitchen to the living room, smiling at the sight that greeted him.

Sarah had changed in her pajama's covered in kittens at some point and was now fast asleep on her big brother's lap, curled into his side with her new teddy bear in her protective grasp. Puck was also asleep, his body slouched down on t he sofa, his head tilted slight to rest against the corner where the back of the sofa and the arm met. His right arm was curled around his sister, holding her close while the other lay limply at his side, his feet crossed at the ankles and propped up on the coffee table. The sight was a precious one and Kurt had to resist pulling his phone from his pocket to capture the moment. Instead, he simply took the blanket that had been neatly folded over the back of the sofa and draped it over the pair, his fingers brushing through Sarah's hair briefly before picking up the holey discarded sparkly blue jeans off the floor and leaving the apartment, flicking the lock before closing the door behind him.

***GLEE***

**A/N: **So, just a small little bonding scene. I'm sorry if this is moving too slow for some people, but I plan on picking things up soon. QUESTION: Would anyone be totally against a small time jump? Like maybe the next chapter would fast forward about a month? Thanks for reading! ~Katy


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: **__I am so ashamed with how long it has taken me to update. I had to have surgery on my ankle to fix come ligaments and tendons that I ruptured and kind of forgot about this in the process. Hopefully people are still willing to read!_

***GLEE***

**Chapter 9**

A month had passed quickly and Kurt had fallen into the routine of spending Wednesday and Sunday evenings at the Puckerman apartment. It wasn't a secret and virtually everyone in glee club knew that Kurt was seeking tutoring sessions from Puck, but many of them couldn't bring themselves to believe that Puck wasn't as dumb as he came off as. Mercedes had been known to give Puck a few death glares whenever he was hanging around Kurt, but that didn't seem to deter the larger teen in the slightest.

Kurt was actually enjoying the time he spent with Puck. They didn't usually spend the entire evening studying. In fact, Kurt has spent quite a bit of time pampering Sarah by doing her hair and painting her nails – things that "Noah doesn't do right", or so Sarah has told him. Puck didn't seem to mind having him around either. The two teens often found themselves in large debates or discussions ranging from the best sports car to whether action movies or romantic comedies were better. To Kurt, it had seemed as if they had formed a sort of friendship.

Kurt had never had a male friend before. Growing up he had always been different and most of the other boys had stayed a fair distance away from him. He loved Mercedes and she was possibly the best friend anyone could ask for, but there was something about being able to spend time with another male without said other male afraid to be close or touch him. Puck also seemed to enjoy his company, especially the casual moments when Kurt would simply inquire as to how his day had been. In all his time spent at the Puckerman apartment, Kurt had never seen their mother, so he assumed that Puck appreciated that someone cared about his everyday life even if his own mother did not.

Now Puck would never admit it, but the days between Kurt's visits were kind of lousy. Granted, he got to see Kurt and some of his other friends at school, but it wasn't the same. He and Kurt weren't the same people at school as they were behind the closed doors of Puck's apartment.

As it was, it was only Friday evening, meaning he still had a full day and a half before Kurt would be back over. Sarah had been put to bed over an hour ago and now Puck was left by himself in the quiet apartment. Puck despised the hours between when Sarah went to bed and they both woke up in the morning because they left him all alone with his thoughts.

Puck was currently sat at the kitchen table as he shuffled through the many bills that were due at the end of the week. A calculator sat next to him as he tried to figure out what he could pay now and what would have to wait until his next paycheck came in. A steady headache was pounding behind his eyes as he threw his pen down in frustration. Deciding to call it a night before he got himself totally worked up, he pushed himself away from the table and headed off to bed.

***GLEE***

"Noah!" the whimpering call had Puck sitting up tiredly in his bed, his blankets pooling around his waist. "Noah!" The distressed call came again.

Puck threw his blankets off and dangled his legs over the side of the bed. Sparing his alarm clock a glance only to see that it was just passed three in the morning, Puck stood up and made his way down the short hall to his sister's bedroom. Pushing the cracked door open, he ventured into the room and perched himself on the edge of his sister's bed, taking in her flushed cheeks and tear filled eyes with concern.

"What's the matter Squirt?" he asked softly, lifting a hand to brush he bangs from her forehead only to frown when he felt how hot her skin was.

"I don't feel good Noah." Sarah whined pathetically.

"I'm going to go get a thermometer, alright? I'll be right back Squirt." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before standing up and heading for the bathroom.

He returned to Sarah's room a moment later, thermometer in hand. He was pleased to find that her fever wasn't super high, however 101 degrees wasn't all that great either. Leaving the room to retrieve a wet washcloth, he then placed the cool cloth over Sarah's warm forehead and measured out the appropriate amount of Children's Motrin for her to take.

Puck settled down beside Sarah in her small twin bed, pulling the pink mini mouse comforter up around both of them. Sarah rolled onto her side and rested her head on her older brother's chest, the wash cloth still plastered to her forehead dampening Puck's sleep shirt, but he paid no mind to it. Wrapping one of his large arms around her back, he stroked Sarah's hair gently and he hummed under his breath waiting for sleep to claim her once again.

***GLEE***

Saturday mornings for Kurt meant breakfast in front of the TV in the living room watching old cartoons from his childhood until his father made his way out of bed,. Kurt actually enjoyed the time to himself. He had never really been able to sleep in unless he was sick or had done something exhausting, like mowing the lawn, the day before. However, Kurt never complained about not being able to sleep past seven o'clock. There was something about the early morning hours that were calming for Kurt. 7 AM-9AM on Saturdays and Sundays were the only moments where Kurt felt at peace. No one was calling him or requesting anything of him.

Which was why Kurt was taken so off guard when his phone began to buzz on the coffee table in front of him. He had no idea who would be calling him at 7:30 in the morning. The only phone calls that he ever got that early in the morning always delivered bad news. He frowned when he saw the caller ID before running his thumb across the screen and accepting the call.

"Puck?" he asked cautiously.

"_Yeah. Look Dude, I'm sorry I'm calling so early, but I need a favor." _

"What kind of a favor?" Kurt asked suspiciously as he pressed the phone closer to his ear.

"_Sarah's sick. Like, with a fever and shit. Her daycare won't let her in if she's sick, and I can't take the day off work._ " Came Puck's frustrated voice from across the line.

"What about your Mom?" Kurt inquired curiously. Wasn't it the parents' job to stay at home with a sick child?

"_She's not here. Look, just give me a 'yes' or 'no' so I can figure out what the hell I'm going to do. If you don't want to, that's fine, just let me know now."_ Puck's voice was biting, but Kurt could tell it was more out of anxiety than anger.

"No, no! I'd love to watch her…but I promised my Dad and Carole that I'd help take care of things around the house…" he trailed off guiltily.

"_I can bring her over there." _Puck offered_. "She's pretty chill when she's sick. Just stick her in front of a television and bring her juice and she'll be fine. Please Kurt."_

Kurt was almost certain that this was the closest to begging Puck had ever been, so he sighed. "Yeah, okay. Bring her on over." He agreed.

_Puck let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks man. I really do appreciate it. We'll be over in ten."_ And with that, Puck hung up.

Kurt sighed as he set his coffee cup on the counter and made his way to the linen closet to make up the couch for his little visitor.

***GLEE***

Burt yawned and stretched as he made his way down the hall towards the kitchen where he knew a pot of coffee would be waiting for him. There always was, thanks to Kurt's inability to sleep in. When Kurt first started getting up early, even on weekends, Burt had been worried. What kind of teenager got up earlier than they had to on a weekend? But now he was almost grateful for it because it usually meant that he didn't have to curse at the coffee pot while he waited for said coffee to percolate.

He sleepily passed by the living room, only to back track as he rubbed furiously at his eyes because they had to be deceiving him. Peeking into the darkened room, the only noise coming from the television playing cartoons, he saw that his eyes were, in fact, not playing tricks on him. There, cuddled under a dozen blankets on their sofa was a brunette little girl. Hearing movement in the kitchen, Burt quietly passed the room and headed out to find Kurt.

"Do you want to explain to me why there's a little girl in our living room?" Burt asked the moment he entered the kitchen.

Kurt, who had his back to the doorway, jump startled, before turning to face his father. "That's Sarah Puckerman. She's Puck's little sister." He explained.

"The kid with the Mohawk? Finn's friend?" Burt clarified as he pulled a coffee mug from the cabinet.

"And my friend too." Kurt huffed. "But yes."

"Why is she here?" Burt inquired, taking his first sip of his morning caffeine.

"She's sick. I don't think it's the flu, but she's definitely not feeling well. Puck had to work this morning and her daycare won't let her in because she's sick."

"What about their parents?" Burt inquired, much like Kurt had questioned Puck about earlier.

"Their dad walked out before Sarah was even born, I believe. And their mother….I don't really know much about her. Puck just said that she wasn't around today. I get the feeling that she's not someone who would ever win any parent of the year awards, you know?" Kurt offered, a hint of sadness lacing his voice as he peeked out of the kitchen and into the living room to check on Sarah.

"Parent's like that disgust me." Burt grunted as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"Look, Dad, I know I told you I'd help out with stuff around the house, and I still will. It's just….Puck was in a bind."

"Don't worry about it Kid." Burt waved him off. "Something tells me you'll be better and taking care of that little girl than running a lawn mower anyway."

***GLEE***

Kurt spent a relaxing day with Sarah, curled up on the sofa watching Disney movies all day. Puck had been right. The little girl was possibly the easiest sick person Kurt had ever been around. She didn't ask for much, just water, soup, and a hug now and again. She was still running a fever on and off, but she was actually in pretty good spirits for being ill.

Sarah was currently stretched out across the sofa, her head pillowed in Kurt's lap as they watched Cinderella together. Sarah visibly flinched whenever the evil step mother showed on screen and Kurt couldn't help but frown in worry.

"Kurt?" a small voice asked. Kurt looked down at Sarah to find the six year old starring up at him.

"What is it sweetheart?" He asked, his hand playing with her hair gently.

"Why are mommies mean like that?" she asked with a frown.

"Not all Mommies are mean." Kurt reassured her. "You met Carole earlier and she's a Mommy. Was she mean?"

"No." Sarah replied with a shake of her head.

"See?" Kurt smiled down at her. "Not all mommies are mean. "

Sarah's eyes fluttered closed as she turned onto her side and pressed her face against Kurt's stomach. Kurt carded one hand through her tangled curls while the other rubbed her back soothingly. "I wish my Mommy was like your Mommy." Sarah said simply as he breathing began to even out.

Kurt didn't get the chance to question her about her statement because the small girl drifted to sleep almost instantly, one tiny fist clutching at his shirt as if it were her lifeline.

***GLEE***

"How was she?" Puck asked from the entrance way of the living room, having just been let in by Burt.

"A perfect Angel." Kurt replied with a smile, his hand still carding through Sarah's hair. The little girl had been sleep for over an hour and Kurt's leg had long since fallen asleep, but he didn't have the heart to change waking her by moving.

"Sorry I'm a little late. Some dumbass knocked over an entire display of pickle jars and I was the lucky one who got to clean it up." Puck explained as he fully entered the room and knelt down beside his sleeping sister.

"It's not a problem. " Kurt reassured him. "We had a nice time today. Her fever's been on and off, but never over 100." He told the other teen.

"Thanks man. I really appreciate you watching her like this." Puck replied sincerely.

"It wasn't a problem at all. She's adorable, even when she's sick."

"Yeah. She's something else." Puck muttered fondly, as he brushed aside Sarah's bangs.

"Is…Is everything okay at home?" Kurt inquired hesitantly.

"Yeah." Puck looked up surprised. "Why?"

"No reason….I was just wondering, since you said your Mom wasn't around…."

"She's just working a lot." Puck lied before getting to his feet and reaching down for his sister. He gently hoisted her into his arms, never waking her as he settled her on his hip and gather the bag, which he had packed her belongings in earlier.

"Are we still on for tomorrow? I understand if you don't want to tutor me if you have Sarah tomorrow." Kurt asked as he stood up, wincing at the pins and needles feeling rushing though his leg.

"Yeah, same time as always. Hopefully the Squirt will be feeling better….if not, I'll just set her up on the sofa while we study in the kitchen." Puck said with a shrug as he made his way to the door. "Thanks again Kurt. You really did me a favor today. I owe you."

"It was my pleasure." Kurt reassured him, watching from his front door as Puck settled a still sleeping Sarah into his car before getting behind the wheel and driving off.

As Kurt shut the front door he couldn't help but feel as if Puck had lied to him. After Sarah's comment earlier, Kurt had a feeling that the Puckerman's home life wasn't what Puck wanted everyone to believe it was.

***GLEE***

_**A/N: **__I promise it won't take nearly as long for the next update! All of your kind words and reviews mean the world to me and I really take into consideration everything you say, so if you feel like it, feel free to leave me a review! Thanks so much! ~Katy_


End file.
